


3

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [31]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 02:58:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4547544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	3

The phone rang, and Mulder turned, too tired to be startled, but certainly surprised. First time stepping foot into this office in six months, and he hadn’t even been here five minutes, and the phone was already ringing. He looked down at the necklace in his hand… it was too much to hope… then shook his head blearily and stepped over to the desk.

He picked up the receiver. “Mulder.”

“Agent Mulder, this is Henry over at the Washington Post. The AP just picked up a story out of L.A. that sounds a lot like those other murders you asked me to keep an eye out for.”

Seven months earlier, before they’d been shut down, before Scully was… there had been a series of unusual murders in Tennessee. Mulder hadn’t found out about it until well after the fact, and when he tried to look into it further, the suspects appeared to have vanished. At the time, he’d called up one of the Bureau contacts at the Post, asked to be notified immediately if anything similar came over the wire.

Four months later, when he was in the midst of wiretap hell, he got a call about a similar murder in Oregon. Despite the fact that the murders now crossed state lines, putting the crimes clearly under federal jurisdiction, his appeals to Skinner to let him investigate were denied. Skinner had put some other agent on the case, but the guy was either too green or didn’t give a damn, because he wasn’t able to solve anything before the suspects had killed twice more and gone to ground again.

This was his chance. He knew what to expect, knew he would have just a few days to catch them. And he was _going_ to catch them, this time.

“Thanks for the heads-up, Henry. Can you get me the location of the crime scene?”

He set the necklace on the desk while he wrote down the address, then hung up the phone and gathered his briefcase. He started to leave the office, pausing with his hand on the door, before turning around, setting the briefcase on the desk, and picking the necklace up again. Carefully, he undid the clasp, fumbling a little, and managed to fasten the delicate gold chain around his neck. He tucked the cross inside his shirt, fetched the briefcase once more, and walked out.


End file.
